Larry Wiebe of Brooks was diagnosed with MS at 40
but now the couple just takes things day by day. Blaine says they hope for a cure, but refuse to let MS ruin their perspective on life.
MS is indiscriminate of age, weight, race or gender. However, it may depend on where one grew up, for example, Alberta has the highest rate of MS patients in the world. This could be due to a magnitude of reasons, including exposure to vitamin D, but it is yet unknown what the specific cause is. Multiple sclerosis literally means "many scars" after the lesions on the myelin sheath of a nerve. These scars impair the transmission of signals from the brain to the body. The severity of symptoms is different in every case, however, making MS even more difficult to understand.
Progressive MS, one of the more severe types, can take a healthy 20 year old and have them needing home care by 23.
However, this wasn't the case for Larry Wiebe of Brooks. Around 1989, Wiebe was walking around Sylvan Lake when his legs gave out on him. After further tests he was then diagnosed with progressive MS at 40 years old. Wiebe said that the first 20 years after the diagnosis he didn't really see much change, until one day when he was working.
"I was driving the school bus when I started to see double," he said. After that Wiebe said his eye sight was beginning to fail and he was having problems with his balance. Walking with a cane helps, but Wiebe knows he's been going down a little bit every time he sees the doctor.
Now retired in Brooks, Wiebe spent 66 years in Rosemary as a farmer. It was there he met his wife Vivian, who he married in 1973. Wiebe has accepted his diagnosis and did not seek the CCSVI treatment. Wiebe had heard unsuccessful stories regarding CCSVI and decided not to pursue treatment. He says at his age
he just lives day by day, but hopes that younger MS patients can be treated and cured.
Terri Sailer, from the MS Society in Medicine Hat, says patients just need more understanding.
"I know people with MS who've been approached in malls because people think they're drunk. When you have MS sometimes you walk with a bit of a stagger and sometimes people will call the cops on them. They then have to explain that they're not drunk, they have a chronic disease," Sailer said.
Beth said she's even encountered situations where she had to explain she wasn't intoxicated, but that she was dealing with a symptom of MS. She was taking her son to school when she met one of his teachers in the hall.
"I'm not drunk, honest to God, I have MS," Beth told her. Sailer said it's hard for many to know that people are suffering from MS because they look healthy and every case is different. Sailer also said that fatigue can hugely impact daily lives. She says it's so common, yet not as recognizable as a symptom of multiple sclerosis.
She holds her forefinger and her thumb two inches from each other, "this is how much energy some people with MS have to get through their day. They can do that staircase twice maybe, but not a third time. People can't see that they're struggling with it," Sailer says. She hopes one day that age-appropriate homes can be set up for those with MS. Thus avoiding situations where someone in their 20s or 30s lives in a nursing home of seniors.
Improving quality of life is high on the priorities for those with multiple sclerosis. CCSVI may not have been the cure, but MS patients are hoping understanding and awareness might be the answer.
SalesplSa esp r on on Year Year
Ken Wuitchik Congratulations Ken
on another outstanding year. Ken would like to say thank you to all his loyal
clientele and all the best to them and their families in 2013. Ken has been employed at Big M for 21 years.
‘13
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